The present invention relates to improved materials winding apparatus in general and more particularly to improved package winding mounts, improved package drive arrangements, and combinations thereof, especially for applications involving the winding of measured cloth segments onto non-symmetrical packages such as flat bolts.
Numerous commercial operations make use of various materials which have been wound or loaded onto a package (or carrier). The wound package is then either used on site or transported to another location at which the wound materials are unwound or otherwise further processed still on the carrier. A tremendous variety of materials may be so processed, including numerous varieties of fabrics (including manmade and natural cloths), paper goods, yarns, fibers, and continuous materials made of other substances such as plastics, metals, ropes, or wire.
The "packages" onto which materials are wound also constitute a variety, including both symmetrical and nonsymmetrical packages. For example, cone-shaped objects may be used for wrapping various ropes, yarns, threads, ribbons, and the like, while flat generally rectangular cardboard elements may comprise flat bolts onto which cloth or other broad materials (i.e. having a relatively large width) such as paper goods may be typically wound. Symmetrical objects such as cylindrical cardboard, metal, or plastic elements comprise further examples of "packages" onto which materials may be wound for processing, transportation and/or storage.
In industry, the term "package" may sometimes be used to refer to the individual element (or carrier) about which materials are wound, and at other times may be used to refer to the completed wound materials together with the carrier element on which they are received. Specific usage of the term will be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art from context, and is the case herein.
In producing the above-referenced packages, many typical winding operations involve a piece of winding machinery on which is supported or otherwise associated therewith a relatively larger roll or supply of continuous materials which are to be wound into measured or predetermined lengths (i.e.. amounts) or segments onto a package or carrier element. In other words, a relatively large roll of materials is transferred onto a plurality of smaller packages or carrier elements in measured or predetermined respective lengths or segments.
In any commercial operation, it is desired generally to simultaneously achieve both safety and efficiency. Such two goals are not always compatible. For example, achieving greater efficiencies can mean operating equipment such as winding machinery at higher speeds. However, such higher speeds can create greater forces on and less stability of its moving parts, which can reduce safety margins. Additionally, some winding operations may be inherently more difficult than others, due either to the nature of the materials involved or the nature of the package being wound, or both. For example, non-symmetrical packages, such as flat bolts of cloth or material, can be relatively more subject to imbalances or vibration during rotation, all of which can tend to hold down or relatively reduce safe operating speeds.
Still other factors can affect efficiency and safety. For example, while some commercial machines may involve some automatic operations, other winding machinery in some industries, such as the textile industry, may historically rely to a high degree on individual operator control. For example, cloth winding machinery as an industry practice is typically operated under direct human operator control.
As one specific example, the Measuregraph Company of St. Louis, Missouri has for a number of decades produced a cloth winding machine which is a virtual industry standard for winding cloth from a large roll onto a smaller package, such as a flat cardboard bolt. The Measuregraph cloth winder is referred to as a "double fold" machine because a lengthwise roll of cloth supported on the machine is variously threaded over and through parts of the machine (as well known in the textile industry) so as to become folded in half widthwise as it is wrapped or wound onto a flat cardboard bolt. The bolt of cloth is then shipped directly to a plant for processing of the cloth into clothes or other articles, or is shipped to a wholesale or retail cloth store or similar facility where it is sold directly to a customer, who typically purchases a given quantity at a time, such as a few measured yards. Such practice is widespread and well known, which also means that numerous such cloth winding machines are in daily operation in the United States and worldwide.
The foregoing machinery has been largely unchanged over numerous years of use, and has heretofore been operable only with certain limited efficiencies (i.e., operational speeds), and with certain safety concerns for the operators. More specifically, an operator typically stands on a "front" side of such machine in a location from which the operator can control both the winding drive for the machine and the mounting and removal operations for the bolts or packages.
The framework for the exemplary Measuregraph double fold cloth winding machine referenced above largely constitutes a number of rollers or other cylindrical elements supported lengthwise between longitudinal ends of the machine. Near one end of the machine is located a drive mechanism constituting a transmission having a hand operated gear changer and a foot operated clutch pedal. The transmission receives drive power from a belt driven pulley which is coupled to the output of an electric motor. A separate foot brake pedal is provided adjacent the clutch pedal.
The package or bolt support for the foregoing Measuregraph machine involves a single arm which is mounted in a cantilevered arrangement from a single point on the framework of the winding machine. The distal or cantilevered end of the support arm integrally includes an enclosed metal housing which receives a winding shaft mounted on a bushing. The bushing is axially movable within the enclosable housing and includes a spring inside the housing for biasing the winding shaft in a certain direction. Two long metal members or blades extend (generally about three feet) from a bracket rigidly secured to an end of the winding shaft to another bracket secured to the output of the drive transmission. The pair of metal blades typically are pivotably mounted onto the bracket received at the winding shaft and have slots at their opposite ends which are received in pins or elements of the mounting bracket associated with the drive transmission.
In order to load or unload a package from the blades, an operator disengages the blades from the drive transmission mounting bracket by axially pushing against the winding shaft so that it axially moves in the enclosed housing against the above-referenced spring. A relatively short axial movement, for example, about one inch, may be all that is required for an operator to alternately engage or disengage the blades.
There are a number of safety and efficiency drawbacks with the foregoing arrangements. For example, typically the safe output of the drive transmission is such that the winding shaft and the package to be wound may achieve only about 450 rpm. It will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, regardless of the operator's personal efficiency, the upper rpm limits of the winding shaft or package determines (i.e., limits) how much cloth or the like can be wound onto packages by a single machine in a given day or operator work shift.
In order to actually maintain engagement of the drive, an operator must continuously apply force to the clutch pedal so as to press a slip drive arrangement into the drive pulley, i.e., a friction drive system. The operator must also have the experience and skills to handle a proper braking operation, which requires manipulation of both the hand gear changer and the foot pedal to first disengage the drive, and then requires proper application of a foot brake for smooth operation.
Typically, a lengthwise measuring roller includes a simple mechanical counter which is situated before the operator, and which the operator must monitor in order to decide when a predetermined amount of material has been wound onto a bolt and the drive transmission should be disengaged. Such an arrangement inherently limits the degree of accuracy which can be obtained for any given measurement, or metering operation, and also inherently limits the speed of the winding operation so that it can be managed by the human operator with any reasonably expected degree of accuracy. At the same time, the operator must maintain a knife or similar sharp article by which the cloth is manually cut at a desired location once a given segment has been wound onto the package.
The machinery operator must also be positioned so as to be able to thread a free end of cloth onto a new package being prepared. Such operation as well as the above-discussed other operations virtually requires the operator to remain in immediate proximity of the package even as it is being wound. Hence, such an arrangement necessarily involves certain operator risks and safety concerns.
It is a still further concern of the above arrangement that a tremendous amount of vibration is involved with both the mounting and the drive arrangement. Not only does such vibration limit drive speeds (and hence, efficiency of operations), but they cause increased maintenance problems and in worst cases can cause failure (i.e., breakage) of winding machine components and/or injury to an operator.
More specifically, it is not unusual for vibrations to cause the cantilevered support arm for the winding shaft to crack or even completely break off from the winding machine framework. In other words, the cantilevered support arm does not simply shake loose from where it is secured to the framework, but it can actually crack or break due to vibrations. It will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that such breakage would more likely occur during a winding operation, which means that an operator would be subjected to possible harm from broken support arm pieces and from the mounting arrangement, particularly the metal mounting blades thereof.
A more frequent potentially harmful occurrence due to vibration is that the slidably mounted blades will simply be jarred from their notched support at the drive coupling end, which can cause the blades to instantly and without warning fall down across the feet or legs of an operator in a pivoting motion. Hence, such blades, typically three feet long or longer, and typically comprised of solid metal, can be a significant hazard.
In addition to the foregoing concerns, it is also a considerable maintenance problem that the bushing-type mounting wears rapidly and is generally inaccessible for maintenance.
The foregoing arrangement has persisted for many years without resolution, and with little available in the way of practical efforts to simply shield or protect an operator while still having the required level of operator contact and proximity for actual operation of the winding machinery. Moreover, the extent of the vibration problem is such that there is significant amount of vibration (and therefore the same types of problems as above) even whenever cylindrical packages or carriers are being wound on such machinery.